The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-09-28
WILDCAT HUNTING.
One of the FavOrite Sports of the Dwell.
ers in Lower California,


''There she ISL
"Don't fret
"Give the dogs q chance!''
They and many other disconnected
sentences came from a crowd of ladies
and gentlemen who, well mounted and
close upon a pack of eager hounds, were
pushing into a thick patch of under
brush in the center of the Arroyo SecO, a
dry canon or river just back of Passa-
dena, Cal.
Here the gulch was well filled with tall
trees from whose branches there fell in
rich festOOns masses of wild grape and
clematis that formed ropes that deity
caught riders beneath the chin, and so
tied up the dogs that they often became
fOuled and yelped and hOwled in impo-
tent rage. The party had started half a
mile below in the clearing and had fol-
lowed up the eager dogs that had now
freed game of some kind and, as they
gathered about the broken poplar high
up in one of the branches there appeared
long, 1.-the body clinging to the limb,
while over the side peered the ugly face
of the wildcat. Excitement had been at
fever pitch when the hounds struck the
trail, but now that the animal was in
full view, it fairly boiled over. even the
horses appearing to be carried away
by it,
''Stand back, ladies!' shouted the
master of the hounds, who carried
light rifle, sometimes a cat Will jump
for her life, and they viii scratch when
they land. -
The ladies fell back little, and a
youngster in the party volunteered to
climb the tree and dislodge the common
enemy. Handing the bride of his horse
to rider, he seized the pendent grape
vine and swung up into the tree, and a
few moments later was making his way
along the branch toward the crouching |
cat. She was so intently engaged in |
looking at the dogs that at first she did |
not see him, but when he rounded the
trunk she suddenly caught sight of the
new enemy, drew back with a quick
growl, glanced this way and that, as if
measuring the chances, and, perhaps
would have jumped. when the climber
deity struck her from behind and down
she went, with a scream of rage into the
red mouths below. The blood and fur
flew, for puss was game, and not few
good dogs backed out, wiping their heads
and ragged ears. But the game was up,
and it was with great difficulty that the
skin was saved for the rug which is the
trophy of the wildcat hunt.
Hunting this short tailed feline is a
feature of southern California out door
sports. The deep canons that radiate
down from the Sierra Madres form their
retreat and that of large game in general.
After a rain the hunts are organized, and
then the paw marks are distinctly seen |
and the scent fresh, and, as the storm
clouds blow away from the mountain
sides and the warm sun comes out the
bay of the hounds of some sportsman is
nearly always heard. The wildcat of
this country is a large, powerful animal,
approaching the lynx, also found here, i'll
size and general appearance, and large
enough to inflict dangerous wounds upon
man on beast.
On one occasion the hounds came upon
a fresh scent in an extremely narrow
place in the canon, where precipitous Z
rocks rose on one side and heavy brush
On the other. The dogs rushed into the
after, and a moment later a large cat I
bounded into the narrow stream and
began an Intellectual scramble up the
'ocky sides. A bullet caught her before
he had gone thirty feet, and, turning 4
With snarl of rage, she leaped directly
nto the air, fell upon the neck of a
,roncho, dis1nounted the rider in the
melee, and before she could be dislodged
ore and lacerated the animal in fear
al manner. Kittens are often seen III
lay to take one another in their mouths
nd to scratch with their hind feet. and
was this plan that was adopted by the
at. She fastened her claws into the
roncho's neck, and with her sharp hind
laws ripped and clawed until the animal
yas a mass of blood and lacerated flesh, Z
hen fell among the dogs, to be torn to
leces amid a protest that showed it to be
the earnest animals u
You may talk about your mountain Ca
on, said an old hunter as we rode &c
owly up the Arroyo one early morning
tter the rain, with the whimpering dogs
Il about, but 1 would rather take my -
lances with one any time than with
air OF wildcats at close quarters. 1t lust o
GEMS as If cat loses its head like. They
now they're caught, and they are lust De
1und to have it out if it takes all sum
Ter. They fight worse when there is a OI
ar, just like mountain lion - hila- r..
eIDhia Times.